The French Revolution: The History and Legacy of the World’s Most Famous Social Revolution

As one of the seminal social revolutions in human history, the French Revolution holds a unique legacy, especially in the West. The early years of the Revolution were fueled by Enlightenment ideals, seeking the social overthrow of the caste system that gave the royalty and aristocracy decisive advantages over the lower classes. But history remembers the French Revolution in a starkly different way, as the same leaders who sought a more democratic system while out of power devolved into establishing an incredibly repressive tyranny of their own once they acquired it.

The French Revolution was a turbulent period that lasted several years, and one of the most famous events of the entire revolution came near the beginning with the Tennis Court Oath. By July of 1788, King Louis XVI agreed to call the Estates-General, a large, traditional legislative body, for the first time since 1614. The country's finances, already quite tenuous, reached a crisis stage in August 1788 as France faced bankruptcy.

In March 1789, the electoral method was set. While the nobility and clergy would hold direct elections, the much larger Third Estate would elect representatives from each district who would then attend larger assemblies to elect their official representatives to the Third Estate of the Estates-General.

While the First and Second Estate argued over voting issues and methods, the Third Estate began to organize itself to a new degree. On June 7, a 30-year-old named Maximilien Robespierre made an impassioned speech criticizing the wealth of the clergy, which drew the attention of the entirety of the Third Estate. With certain members’ encouragement, the Third Estate took the first steps toward declaring itself the National Assembly on June 10. Jean-Sylvain Bailly was chosen as President of the Third Estate, and by June 10, 1789, the Third Estate sent word to the other two estates, requesting that they join together and agree to common verification or vote by head. They received no response and opted to proceed without the consent or participation of the First and Second Estates. Thus, the Third Estate declared itself the only legitimate representative body, calling itself the "Commons". The public received the news with great support, and in the coming days, a few members of the clergy presented themselves. The "Commons" became the National Assembly on June 17, 1789, and two days later, the clergy officially joined the National Assembly.

The early years of the French Revolution were fueled by Enlightenment ideals, seeking the social overthrow of the caste system that gave the royalty and aristocracy decisive advantages over the lower classes. But history remembers the French Revolution in a starkly different way, as the same leaders who sought a more democratic system while out of power devolved into establishing an incredibly repressive tyranny of their own once they acquired it.

The height of Republican France’s tyranny came during a 10 month period forever known as the Reign of Terror, the most notorious and arguably most memorable part of the French Revolution. One of the first victims of the Reign of Terror was its most famous: former French Queen Marie Antoinette. But Antoinette was followed by thousands more, including everyone from aristocrats to clergy to prostitutes and even instrumental revolutionaries like Danton, Desmoulins, and, most notably, Robespierre. It was Robespierre whose position on the Committee of Public Safety made him the Reign of Terror’s instrumental figure until he himself became a victim of it in July 1794. Robespierre’s date with the guillotine is often considered the official end of the Reign of Terror, but by then it is estimated that at least 16,000 people were guillotined in that time and possibly 25,000 more were summarily executed across the country.